Sturgeon and Curran spoke at the Scottish Women’s Convention in Glasgow, attended by around 200 delegates.

The Yes and No campaigns agree that the female vote is key to winning the referendum, but the latest polls show independence is less popular among women than among men.

Curran said the White Paper, published last November, lacked ambition for improving women’s lives.

She added: “The biggest unanswered question for me when I read the White Paper was, ‘Where are women?’

“In 650 pages we had space for the time zone, whether we’d be members of Eurovision and what the national anthem would be, but we had no ambition for women.

“One mention of equal pay and not a single mention of single parents.

“Barbara Castle, the woman who won the fight for equal pay, once said, ‘In politics, guts is all’, and there are no guts in this document.”

Curran said Labour would make companies reveal the gap between what they pay men and women, offer them incentives to pay the living wage, and make them support women returning to work after maternity leave.

Sturgeon said there were “deep-seated” gender inequalities that still hold women back. And she insisted that Westminster governments had failed to do enough to tackle the problems.

The Deputy First Minister said a Yes vote would mean gains for families including free childcare for one to five-year-olds, saving mums and dads up to £4600 per child per year.

And she asked: “Why on earth is it that under the Westminster system, 44 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed – it was passed in the same year I was born – we still have a massive pay gap?

“That is a failure of the current system. It’s not a reason to vote against independence – it’s a reason to vote for it and give ourselves the power to succeed where Westminster has failed.”

Sturgeon said an independent Scotland could also set its own pensions and retirement age.

She said women were “still under-represented in the governance of companies and public authorities” and added: “A stronger voice for women at the top tables will help ensure that the policies that flow from these boards challenge inequality, rather than perpetuate it.

“So, with responsibility for equalities, we would take action, backed by legislation if necessary, to ensure that a clear target – I would argue at least 40 per cent – of places on boards were occupied by women.”

Sturgeon also made a pitch to Labour voters to back independence.

She said: “We won’t always have an SNP government.

“Indeed, if I was a Labour voter, the prospect of having a Scottish Labour government – able to follow its own heart and values instead of having to design its policies for middle England – would be very appealing.”